Merrimack man charged with raping teen

MERRIMACK - A local man is accused of twice raping a 15-year-old Amherst resident.

.Eric K. Cousens, 43, of 222 Amherst Road, Merrimack, turned himself in to police just after 5:30 a.m. Wednesday on two counts of felonious sexual assault on a child under the age of 16, both class B felonies, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child under the age of 16, a class A misdemeanor...Police opened an investigation April 2 after Amherst pollice forwarded the case to them because the alleged assaults took place in Merrimack...On April 12, investigators searched Cousens' home, a single family farmhouse where he is a tenant...In a news release, police did not indicate whether the teen was a girl or boy nor did they indicate if Cousens knows the teen. A message left for Detective Scott Park was not immediately returned...Cousens was arraigned Wednesday morning in 9th Circuit Court, Merrimack District Division, and later posted $50,000 cash/surety bail. He is due back in court April 23 at 9:30 a.m. for a probable cause hearing...